CRAIG Ferguson, a Scottish-born American comedian and author, was right when he said: “It turns out that speeding irresponsibly in a large truck, placing personal wealth ahead of the welfare of others, is one of the greatest sins in the universe.”

His words fit into the scenario in our country where some drivers, mostly of large vehicles, consider roads as their kingdoms, and other commuters as their helpless subjects.

Reckless driving is just one part of the problem and much has been written about the menace. I want to highlight the issue of garbage spillage from trucks and how it poses a risk to commuters’ lives and pollutes the environment.

I frequently use the M-10 motorway, also called the Karachi Northern Bypass, which connects the M-9 Karachi-Hyderabad motorway to the Karachi Port. Unfor-tunately, I am one of the victims of this broken system where neither the citizens have civic sense nor does the government make a serious effort to punish the violators.

Anyone who has spent some time in the metropolis must have seen garbage trucks of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) joyfully spitting heaps of waste and sewage. It is a pretty common sight.

Recently, the flyover at Sher Shah got clogged up with the entire load of garbage that had fallen off a truck onto the road, causing inconvenience to the commuters.

This not only filled the surrounding area with the stink of sewage, but also made the road slippery and treacherous to drive on. In fact, the road became a death trap for bike riders, like me.

As I was using the bridge on that fateful day, I fell off the motorcycle which skidded sideways on the slippery road, seriously injuring my knee. However, I escaped severe brain injuries as I had my helmet on. I shudder to think what might have been my fate otherwise.

Another aspect of the problem is that the garbage spill put a burden on the traffic police, as some cops standing in sweltering heat tried to clear the traffic jam at the flyover while having to put up with the pungent stink in the air.

The KMC and other relevant authorities must look into this matter immediately, save the commuters from such death traps, and prevent unnecessary traffic jams.

Ayaz Khan Hub

Published in Dawn, July 16th, 2022